Storm Foods

We're keeping watch on a tropical storm here in Florida, which should hit my area later tonight, flooding, power outages and all. What in pray tell should I stock up on in case of power outage. I've got bread, peanut butter, guess I'll get cookies, chips. What about something not so close to junk. Oh, and I have a 7 yr old son, and a 13 yr old daughter. I'm sure alot of you know where I'm going with that. should I rush home and cook something, prepare to eat out of a can? I've never had to deal with this really, and hopefully the storm will turn....

Rusty, I live in Houston and have been through many hurricanes and storms with my three kids. I always fix a "Hurricane box" at the beginning of the season and stock it with those packages of Tuna, pickle relish, packets of mayo and other conditments left over from fast food joints (the only good use for them!), and cheez whiz (the kind in the can you squeeze out), crackers, spaghettios and canned ravioli (I have a gas stove), and a log of summer sausage.

Make sure you have some bottled water, flashlight, candles, batteries, and I always keep a coleman latern on standby in the garage.

After Alicia we did not have power for a week, and that Coleman latern was a life saver.

Thank goodness we like to camp and have all the Coleman goodies! In fact all of our camping gear is in one place, that's the only thing organized at our house..thanks for the reminder! IF we lose power it should be short term at least. Gosh, I can't believe I didn't think about the camping gear. We will be fortunate than most. Have a good weekend all.

Remember if your electric goes, so does your fridge & freezer. The less you open them the better. If the electric is only out over night or so, as long as they are not opened they will probably be okay. Make sure you have a small radio that runs on batteries, to keep up with the news & weather reports & remember that portable phones will not work if the electric goes, that's why it's good to have one of those cheap phones on hand to plug in when the electric goes.(you know the old fashioned kind with a wire running from the handset to the base)

Things you need. a good ice chest, canned food, a NON-electric can opener!, if floods are likely a gallon of water per person per day. if you have an electric stove, a grill will be nice for hot food. non-scented candles... scented candles will drive you nuts after a few days. Several paperback books to keep you entertained.

For a radio get one that can receive TV audio! If your local stations are like many places *cough* clear channel *cough* you won't hear much local news. Receiving TV audio will keep you updated better. And if you use headphones the batteries will last much longer.

I'm a huge fan of the "pouch" tunas; they're markedly better than the canned when the mayo packets from fast food places run out. :0)

My Essential Storm Survival kit includes propane for the BBQ, vodka for medicinal purposes, and tonic, in the event that the storm causes mosquito populations to swell and there's no other source of quinine.

I'm a huge fan of the "pouch" tunas; they're markedly better than the canned when the mayo packets from fast food places run out. :0)

My Essential Storm Survival kit includes propane for the BBQ, vodka for medicinal purposes, and tonic, in the event that the storm causes mosquito populations to swell and there's no other source of quinine.

It looks as if Henri has been downgraded to a tropical depression, but that it could become a tropical storm again. I hope and pray that there is no damage & that everyone is safe in the Southeast part of the country. I really love Florida and hate to see it ravaged by storms.

We were down in Tilghman Island, Maryland, last week, and on the night of our arrival, we had an electrical storm that knocked out power. We had brought things to remain cold in the fridge (we rented a charming apartment), and I started to have feelings of panic as far as food freshness. But my boyfriend and daughter told stories, and the power came back on 2 and a half hours later. The owner of the apartment said that the week before, they had lost electricity for 8 hours, and that if a high power line gets hit by lightning, the workers have to come from Salisbury, which is over 2 hours away, to fix it. It was pretty much rural where we were. I was surprised that this place was not run on propane, as some places off the island were. But we were marginally prepared food-wise without knowing it (granola bars and lots of bottled water were packed anyway).

You just don't appreciate what you've got, actually you pretty much take it for granted until you lose it, even temporarily!

Last time we had a serious storm in Boston was hurricaine Bob which hit in August then we had what we called the "No Name Storm" which hit two months later (now known as "The Perfect Storm"). We lost power during both episodes but luckily I had a cooked turkey for the first and a cooked strip loin for the second. We turned them into sandwiches and the such. Non-scented candles are a definate must and a good board game like Trivial Pursuit. Unplug your TV and stereo equipment, mine got grilled during the hurricaine and I lost the jib on my sailboat in the Perfect Storm.

I think everyone has come up with the basics, but having grown u in Hurricane world, having been in Camille (and when I say in I mean in, I kind of suspect Liketoeat might have been in the neighborhood too) I have a couple of hints.

1) Get a decent quality battery powered radio, preferably a shortwave that picks up police bands. In New Orleans and on the central gulf coast we are fortunate enough to have WWL, which is a 50,000 Watt station and in the evenings can be heard in most of the central US and in alot of the carribbean (in fact, the signal is strong enough that a number of early reggae guys like the Skatalites give it some credit for influence). And get lots and lots of batteries.You can find out alot by listening to the police bands.

2) If you are lucky enough to have a bige freezer, get a bunchof gallons of water and stuff (the less airspace in your freezer the better) it full. This will do two things 1) Provide you with water if it goes out or becomes contaminated (my town is on a well powered system and when the power is down..no water)2) It will keep the things in your freezer a whole lot longer

3)Stock up on charcoal and or bottled gas. If is a real storm you may be cooking outside (the stuff in your freezer probably) for some days and stores around here always run out

4)Beer (never goes bad and is always good)

5) Go get some cash. We have lost power in the last couple of years for over 5 days 3 times (I am in a pretty isolated area out of town) and when the card machines are down, cash can be your friend.

Mayhaw, right you are about my having gone through Camille, and though it did more damage around (like loss of 6 good pecan and 2 good pear trees in back yard) and to (roof and corner of house) my place than did Frederick, it was not personally as inconvenient as was Frederick 10 years later. With Camille we were in an area which had power restored in 7 days, while with Frederick we were without power for 21 days. Both were lots of fun during hot August or Sept. days! Another thing about Frederick was fact I was in New York and New England at time it hit and was unable to get home until 5 days later. Great fun to go into a hot, dark house and start unloading and cleaning out refrigerator and freezer which have been without power for 5 days. That was a worse experience than being around folks cleaning chittlins - literally hold nose with one hand while raking food into trash bags with the other. Then I didn't know that refrigerator and freezer could be washed out so many times and with so many different cleaners. Complaining, but no injury or death in my area compared to the horror the Miss. Gulf Coast experienced with Camille. This is a timely topic what with Isabel, and you and other posters have certainly provided some very good reminders and advice, not only for hurricanes, but for winter ice storms which have had us here without power for 3 and 5 day periods during the past 8 years. Though the situations are somewhat different, lots of the advice posted above is applicable to those of us living in tornado alleys during tornado season, that being something I've fortuntely never experienced.

Yuk, I know what you mean about the freezer. After one of the storms in 98 we were down for 5 days and I lost a freshly butchered cow. 350 lbs of prime beef down the tube. It is amazing how fast that stuff turns to goo (and how fast the little critters occur) without refrigeration in an ambient temp of about 90 plus degrees. It was a chest freezer and after much cleaning and hair pulling it was decided that the patient could not be revived. Had to throw out the freezer.

And Liketoeat...on a much, much, happier subject involving meat (at least hogs).....How about them Hogs!!!! Bad day in Austin for the boys with the Longhorns on their hats. But I always did prefer pork.

Mayhaw, sounds like your hurricane fridge/freezer disaster was even worse than mine. Sorry. And, yes, even though I'm no longer the Razorback fan (or University of Arkansas fan or supporter in any regard) that I used to be (and likely will not become so again so long as the Board of Trustees is stupid enough to continue to retain John White as Chancellor), I still cannot help but get excited over a win over Texas. Too much history, too many memories not to appreciate and enjoy that. Fear, though, that we'd better enjoy this win to the max, for though I surely hope I'm wrong, I still don't believe this year's team is that good.

Okay folks, looks like Isabel is headed our way, the forecasters show it possibly tracking right up the Potomac, even with deviations in it's tracking they are saying we have something like 90% probabilty of getting hit to some degree. They say it's so big that 200 miles out from the eye will get 100MPH winds.(I really wish my neighbor had taken down that old tree out front!) I'm gonna make sure I have everything I need on hand. Mayhaw I think I'll use your advice about the water containers in the freezer. Gotta get outside & get in everthing not tied down.

I forgot one thing. Alot of people fill up their bathtubs with water. THis is a really good idea, unless you pln on getting in it when the tornados accompanying the storm show up). It will give you water for fulshing, cleaning, etc.

As Mayhaw points out, storing water is a good idea -for flushing, cleaning, etc. as well as for drinking- particularly if you are one of the few folks left with your own well or if you are in a small town with a well system which doesn't pump when no power. As a kid out in country with our own well, we always stored water in anticipation of any power outages, but all the years I was in Mobile we never had to worry about water outages, even with hurricanes and power outages of up to 3 weeks. So when returned here to this small town I never thought of the water matter until a first relatively light ice storm left us without power and water for a couple of days (thank goodness for a good neighbor). Since then whenever ice storms threaten, I fill jugs for drinking water and bathtub for flushing/cleaning water (even tho the town now has water system enabling limited pumping from tractor PTO). Surely hope for the best for you guys, Ocdreamr, and all other folks in Isabel's path.

Okay folks, looks like Isabel is headed our way, the forecasters show it possibly tracking right up the Potomac, even with deviations in it's tracking they are saying we have something like 90% probabilty of getting hit to some degree. They say it's so big that 200 miles out from the eye will get 100MPH winds.(I really wish my neighbor had taken down that old tree out front!) I'm gonna make sure I have everything I need on hand. Mayhaw I think I'll use your advice about the water containers in the freezer. Gotta get outside & get in everthing not tied down.

OCDREAMER: Good luck to you as you prepare for Isabel! I will keep you and any other Roadfooders who are affected by Isabel in my thoughts and prayers.

Okay folks, looks like Isabel is headed our way, the forecasters show it possibly tracking right up the Potomac, even with deviations in it's tracking they are saying we have something like 90% probabilty of getting hit to some degree. They say it's so big that 200 miles out from the eye will get 100MPH winds.(I really wish my neighbor had taken down that old tree out front!) I'm gonna make sure I have everything I need on hand. Mayhaw I think I'll use your advice about the water containers in the freezer. Gotta get outside & get in everthing not tied down.

Where did you hear this? We live outside Baltimore and I made reservations for a hotel only 125 miles west........now I am wondering if we are going far enough away! Our house is in a forest setting with dozens of huge oak trees and we are scared!

OCDREAMER: Good luck to you as you prepare for Isabel! I will keep you and any other Roadfooders who are affected by Isabel in my thoughts and prayers.

It's been on the news since last night. Just sat here & listened to 13's warning again. Got some updates from a weather service website. There is a chance it will track up the MD/VA border or it may come up the bay. The only good news is that it is now a category 4 instead of a 5.Winds down to 140!Hey, I live in Catonsville, right behind the community college. next to the state park - you want to talk trees!! The area is know as Oak Forest!

Seafarer John - Amen, Brother! When an ice storm and power outage hits now, the mayor brings in one of his John Deeres from the farm, hooks that green thing up, and we at least have limited city water, whereas before last rework of water system we had none in such cases. Am sure someone in here has somewhere mentioned filling up the vehicles with gasoline for same reason checking on cash and prescriptions have been mentioned as storm precautions. And again, Seafarer, my first reacation was to agree with your recommendation of just stocking up on the booze, until I recalled the many, many persons who were killed in Hurricane Parties being held in apartments on or near the beach when Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Again, hope and pray for the best for all you folks in Isabel's potential paths.

What I crack up about are the people I talk to that say they are just going to rent a pile of movies & sit back & wait it out! When I ask them if they have a generator, the ususal response is of course not. Then I ask them how they are going to power the VCR without elecicity. The look on their faces is priceless! Ah, to be young & thoughtless again!

I don't want to sound holier than thou......but anybody who says that they are going to sit a real storm out has either never done it (either on purpose or by accident) or is a crazed fatalist. As like to eat refferred to in his last post, there were lots of people sitting in their houses on the Miss and LA gulf coast when Camille did the double dip. We had just left Dauphin Island about 8 hours before it hit and drove up to Mobile (not far enough but it was raining so hard could go no farther, when Camille hit the beach at 200 plus per hour (the national weather service at that time could not clock faster than that, but thinks it was substancially stronger)and we had to sit it out in Mobile. My most vivid memory has nothing to do with falling trees or gypsy ice salesman, but with our TV set. My brother and I were up in the middle of the night watching the storm and there was a power surge (incidentally this was the last electricity at our house for 6 days) and the TV blew up. It caught on fire and we had to throw it out the back door (or my dad and my uncle did anyway). It was amazing. Just like some bad sitcom.

We went down to Dauphin Island a couple of days later (by boat) and went to see the damage to our house. There wasn't much to worry about....it was gone. ALong with (at that time) the largest one story holiday inn in the United States, along with the land behind the Dauphin Island School and a large part of the Island.

Frederick came along ten or so years later and did worse damage than that, but was not nearly as deadly.

I live 20 miles from the gulf and 5 miles from Lake Ponchatrain. I am 7 feet above sealevel. We leave. I do not own anything important enough to hang around and watch it blow away. My advice is that if you think you are going to be anywhere near the eye or where the tidal surge can innundate you is to go inland and watch it on TV. Hurricanes are an amazing force of nature and are very interesting to watch, but until you have sat in the quiet during the passing of the eye and then seen the backside of a storm, you will never understand just how little power humans have over the forces of nature. A little storm can be an interesting thing, big ones like the one in the Atlantic right now are just bad news. They are only good for thoses in the construction business and house trailer salesmen.

I agree with you Mayhaw. My home is 30 miles from Galveston, and if it is a weak 2 or less, we stay, over that we leave. The only problem with that is that you do not want to leave to an area that is on the "dirty" side of the storm.

We left during one storm and went to our place in South Texas only to be flooded and threatned by tornadoes there.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people treat them like adventures.

Mayhaw, your comments above are so well stated and so very true. I do hope that anyone in any hurricane path will take note of them and heed your warnings. As you say, one can't really understand the force of a hurricane until having gone through one and then seen the resultant destruction. And if one is inland and/or not directly in path of hurricane's greatest force, the tornadoes which can be spun off from hurricanes (as well as the up country flooding) can still be real dangers. Remember all the huge pines between Gulfport and Hattisburg which were literally twisted off mid-trunk following Camille. Do hope and pray Isabel might continue to weaken (rather than strengthen as it approaches land) or best yet miraculously spin out into the Atlantic, totally avoiding landfall. In any event, Mayhaw's words are well worth heeding.

Amen to Mayhaw, I am old enough to remember Agnes & Gloria & what they did here in Maryland. There is a river near me that runs a new route because of Agnes. I will remain in my house but I do have a lage, solid basement in which I plan to spend my time. All major electrical equipment will be unplugged to avoid surges, used to doing that during the frequent electrical storms we have. Still have to get out in my yard & gather up small projectile like objects, this is classified as anything from lawn chairs down.

Amen to Mayhaw, I am old enough to remember Agnes & Gloria & what they did here in Maryland. There is a river near me that runs a new route because of Agnes. I will remain in my house but I do have a lage, solid basement in which I plan to spend my time. All major electrical equipment will be unplugged to avoid surges, used to doing that during the frequent electrical storms we have. Still have to get out in my yard & gather up small projectile like objects, this is classified as anything from lawn chairs down.

Actually, things a little bigger than lawn chairs can become projectiles. My dad has some photos of a friend in Moss Point Mississippi (between Mobile and Biloxi) that lived about 6 block off the beach during Camille. He had a very large, otherwise undamaged, shrimpboat parked in a pecan tree (or ontop of it anyway) in his backyard the morning after the storm.

Anyone wanting a great read about the worst recorded hurricane in the twentieth century should read "Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson. It tells the story, in novel form, of the weatherman for the US Weather Service (as it was called then) and the Sept. 8, 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston Island with high winds and a thirty foot tidal surge. Over 5000 people (no one will ever really know how many) were killed and the damage was unbelievable. This book won a Pulitzer and a National Book award and is well worth the time. Most library systems will have it as well.

There was also a storm in the 1890's that is now called the "Isla Camarada" storm that may have been the worst one to ever hit the Gulf Coast, but it came on shore at what is now Grand Isle LA and at the time it and the area north of it was largely unpopulated.